I decided to experiment with fewer warmup attempts. In the past, I would generally take about 20-25 warmup attempts in the snatch before attempting a heavy weight. I've always thought this was a little excessive but it did seem to work at the time. However, recently in the Texas Method, I generally would take only 10 warmup attempts in the style of 5, 3, 2 before attempting a heavy set. I saw a great deal of benefit with this warmup format for squatting heavy so I decided to try it out for Olympic lifting. It seemed like it paid off as I still felt warm with the fewer attempts and less tired so that I'd be better able to lift heavy. This brings me to discussing how to warm up for lifting heavy.
Basically, the key for a good warm up is to take only as many attempts as are necessary to be sufficiently physically and mentally warm. Well what's that mean? I will try to explain as simply as I can.
One purpose of the warmup is to get your blood flowing to the muscles and get your central nervous system primed for the heavy attempt. It is NOT to get you so fatigued that you actually perform worse. It does no good to do a whole bunch of warmup attempts or attempt a large number of heavy attempts and tire yourself out so that you've got nothing left for your big lifts. PR on the platform not in the warmup room.
The warmup also serves to physically remind your body of how you are supposed to perform the lift. It is NOT the time for you to be practicing the lifts or trying out new techniques, positions, grips, and etc. The time for that is during your daily practice sessions prior to the competition. When it comes time to compete or go for a 1RM, you've got to do what works or has been working for you. Don't change anything last minute as you will only screw yourself. Do what works now. Work on your issues after the competition.
Finally. the warm up serves to get your mind mentally prepared to lift big weight. "GET CHA MIND RIGHT!" as some rappers say. People often overlook the fact that weightlifting is just as much mental as it is physical. Confidence on the platform is crucial. As you attempt heavier and heavier weights during your warmups your confidence should become higher and higher with each successful lift. Carry this confidence onto the platform KNOWING that you are going to make your first attempt.
All that being said, while you don't want to make too many attempts you don't want to take too few either. Also if you are making all your warm up attempts, it may not be necessary to do a whole lot more. If you are missing your warmup attempts, you might want to take some extra attempts just to boost your confidence but be careful not to overdue it and tire yourself out. Simple enough right?
Here's a warm-up I did this past April at Nationals to serve as an example to help illustrate my points:
Snatch:
First some dislocates, snatch grip presses, overhead squats, and drop snatches with a PVC pipe (just as few reps as needed)
40x5, 50x4, 55x3 60x3, 65x3, 70x2, 75x2, 80x1, 82x1
open at 85 kg
Clean and Jerk:
First some split jerks and presses with the PVC
70x3, 80x3, 90x2, 95x1, 100x1, 102x1
open at 105 kg
Notice that for the snatch I took 24 attempts at progressively increasing weights before I made my opening attempt. As the weight increases, the number of attempts decreased in order to save energy. 24 attempts is quite a large number now that I think about it but at the time I was coming off an injury where I had not snatched heavily in quite some time and was not very comfortable in the overhead position so it took a large number of attempts to get my mind and body ready. If I were 100% and had been practicing the entire time the months prior, I think I would have been fine with 3/4 or maybe even half the number of attempts as I didn't miss any during the warmup.
Now for the clean and jerk I only took 11 attempts . In an Oly competition you do the clean and jerk after the snatch so presumably you are already pretty warmed up. At this point you just need to transition your mind and body into performing the clean and jerk instead of performing the snatch.
That warm-up example was just that...an example. Will it be optimal for you? That's up to you to figure out. Like I said before, in the end, you just have to do what works for you. Whatever you decide to do always keep in mind what the goal is. You get no points for an awesome warmup. The warmup is a only the tool to get you were you want to be. Use it wisely and focus on mentally and physically preparing yourself to perform well when it counts!
